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Tag Archives: religious studies

Aton (also Aten) is an important but short-lived Egyptian sun god, established under the reign of king Amenhotep IV (1350-1334 B.C). Aton, originally the term for the sun’s disc, came to be the name for the new sun-god.

In a bold step, King Amenhotep IV re-named himself Akhenaton and introduced his new monotheistic religion based on the sun’s rising and setting. However, archaeological evidence suggests that most of the Egyptian populace continued to secretly worship the old gods, despite Akhenaton’s decree that all must accept his new religion.

The pioneering psychologist Sigmund Freud thought it noteworthy that Aton was the first monotheistic deity and compared him to the God of the Old Testament (Yahweh).

For all his smarts, Freud clearly was way off the mark here. The celebrated Religious Studies professor Houston Smith (and many other thinkers) realize that a mere sun god differs quite dramatically from a Jewish God who creates not only the sun but the entire universe.

After Akhenaton’s death, the puppet-King Tutankhamen (Tut) at age 12-years was quickly restored polytheism in Egypt. Most likely the boy was coached, to put it nicely, by temple priests and scribes of the old polytheistic system who wanted to restore their much coveted power, prestige and privilege.

It’s not easy to get accurate figures for the number of adherents in each world religion.

Religion is a very personal issue, often central to one’s self-image. So it’s conceivable that many people don’t want to report their true beliefs to a proverbial Big Brother, leading them to indicate “other” or “personal” on a government census.

Others may live in tribal societies and are never directly asked what they believe. Statisticians merely assume that each individual adheres to the general beliefs of his of her community. A good example of this would be the Santals of India and Bangladesh, who according to a 1991 census are about 4.2 million strong. Among this vast population, however, the religious beliefs of only 23,645 individuals are officially recorded.

An 1821 map of the world, where “Christians, Mahometans, and Pagans” correspond to levels of civilization (The map makes no distinction between Buddhism and Hinduism) – via Wikipedia

Another issue is the problem of defining religion (versus, for instance, a cult, a collective delusion, a myth or a pastime) and trying to assess who, if anyone, has the authority to define it.

The problem of bias in understanding religion is nothing new. The issue has merely evolved, with new biases coming to light since the days of the 1821 map, pictured right.

On the topic of New Religious Movements (NRM) Eileen Barker says:

When social scientists have been pressed in a court of law to say whether a particular NRM is “really” a religion, they have not always insisted as clearly as they might that science cannot give the definition of a real religion. It is only when the court provides a definition, or we use the form “if by religion you mean. . ,” that we can say whether, according to that definition, the movement is “really” religious.¹

Keeping the above in mind, the following figures should be taken cum grano salis.

Mary Magdalene by Gregor Erhart († 1540). Lime tree wood and polychromy, 16th century. Part of the feet were restored in the 19th century via Wikipedia

The term heterodox means about the same thing as “unorthodox.” It denotes views and related practices opposed to and usually publicly condemned by established figures or leaders. The word heterodox is found in religious and secular matters.

In religion, a heterodox position might be an outright heresy, which counters core doctrines, or it may just be different enough from standard teachings to elicit public condemnation from orthodox leaders.

Historically, both Protestant and Catholic forms of Christianity have imprisoned, tortured and burned people alive for holding apparently Satanic views about the nature of Christ or some other item of dogma. In retrospect, any reasonable person is compelled to ask who was really behaving like a devil.

Today, the Catholic Church publicly opposes some charismatic preachers of Christianity while accepting others. The tension between orthodox and heterodox groups seems to be greatest when they share areas of ideological overlap.

Sociologists and Religious Studies professors like John Gager say that whenever the beliefs and practices of an out-group get a bit too close for comfort to those of an established in-group, members of the in-group get upset. The in-group then wants to better define its boundaries, which may lead to exclusion, condemnation or, as we’ve seen in the often grisly march of human history, persecution.

According to this theory, it’s the similarity of the two groups that riles the established in-group. Radically different out-groups lacking some kind of thematic overlap with an entrenched in-group are usually ignored. But when an out-group hits a nerve by getting too ideologically close to the in-group—that’s when sparks fly.

This dynamic apparently took place between the early Christians and the Gnostics. And a similar kind of dynamic continues to this day.¹

The following is a smattering of historical usage for the term “heterodox” from the Oxford English Dictionary, illustrating its different meanings that have existed through the centuries:

Expansion of Mahayana Buddhism between the 1st... by World Imaging via Wikipedia

Mahayana Buddhism is a school of religious thought and practice which could be loosely compared to the mission of the Christian apostle Paul in that both the Mahayanists and Paul helped to universalize the message of their respective masters.

Scholars have often distinguished Mahayana (great vehicle) from Hinayana (lesser vehicle) Buddhism on account of the idea that Mahayana is more concerned with universal liberation whereas Hinayana is more concerned with personal liberation. But many find this distinction both flawed and offensive.¹

Some contend that almost any belief or activity that ‘moves the soul,’ ‘activates,’ ‘energizes’ or ‘inspires’ is a religion. For example, Marxism, Scientism and Athleticism may loosely be taken as religions.

Some scholars even say that the TV program Star Trek is a religion. And The Economist published an article suggesting that Google is like a religion.¹

Others suggest that a religion must make some kind of reference ideas like God, gods, goddesses, spirit beings, the numinous and the afterlife.

Still, others insist that a religion must refer to a group, not just an individual.

Western jurisprudence stipulates that a religious group must exhibit some degree of organization and be legally registered to be recognized as a legitimate institution.

And then there are those who insist that religion requires scripture, rites, ritual obligations, representatives and leaders, as well as a route to transcendental liberation or salvation.

Originally posted on Shamagaia:? A lot of people have been connecting with me in recent weeks seeking clarity on the nature of inter-dimensional intelligences, so this seemed like a good time to whip together a little insight on some…

By Wade C. Wilson Skeptics who do not believe in the validity of near death experiences generally claim near death experiences are the result of an over active imagination, possibly due to neurons over-firing in an oxygen deprived state, such … Continue reading →

I don’t believe in reincarnation. At least, I’m not convinced. Existence is too mysterious to boil down to some human theory. There are other reasons too. But I found this lively and fun. Too good to pass up. Even if … Continue reading →

I was goofing around with some software, seeing if a certain filter gave a random or the same effect each time. Turns out it was random. When it generated this, I knew it was the one. If you look carefully, … Continue reading →

I’ve been having a ball learning new recording techniques. Here’s what I wrote at SoundCloud for this one: Sort of like an update to Kitaro’s Silk Road… began as a learning exercise and took shape as I went along… not … Continue reading →

“Another day… the sky… is grey…” I love arpeggios. There’s something meditative, even mystical about them. At least, that’s how they usually affect me. Even in the punchiest EDM tune, if there’s an arpeggio, I take instant notice. So the … Continue reading →

Dictated with https://dictation.io/ I can be incredibly fast or incredibly slow. When it comes to Twitter, I must admit I have been incredibly slow. It’s not that I don’t like Twitter. I do. I actually signed up for Twitter way … Continue reading →

old school selfie in the bathroom… i was doing my masters in India… my humble lodgings, which actually were good compared to what the indigenous students got… above my head to the left is a bucket… placed there to quiet … Continue reading →

I do volunteer work at allexperts.com. Not too long ago I received an interesting question from someone claiming they can predict deaths with great reliability. Due to copyright restrictions, I can’t reblog the question and my answer here. But I … Continue reading →

Last night I managed to get some old 8bf filters working. It took a little doing but IrfanView helped. I wanted to further explore the “mad machines” theme. So here’s the latest. The mad machines II ! Related articles IrfanViewPortable … Continue reading →

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I was goofing around with some software, seeing if a certain filter gave a random or the same effect each time. Turns out it was random. When it generated this, I knew it was the one. If you look carefully, … Continue reading →

I’ve been having a ball learning new recording techniques. Here’s what I wrote at SoundCloud for this one: Sort of like an update to Kitaro’s Silk Road… began as a learning exercise and took shape as I went along… not … Continue reading →

“Another day… the sky… is grey…” I love arpeggios. There’s something meditative, even mystical about them. At least, that’s how they usually affect me. Even in the punchiest EDM tune, if there’s an arpeggio, I take instant notice. So the … Continue reading →

Dictated with https://dictation.io/ I can be incredibly fast or incredibly slow. When it comes to Twitter, I must admit I have been incredibly slow. It’s not that I don’t like Twitter. I do. I actually signed up for Twitter way … Continue reading →

old school selfie in the bathroom… i was doing my masters in India… my humble lodgings, which actually were good compared to what the indigenous students got… above my head to the left is a bucket… placed there to quiet … Continue reading →

I do volunteer work at allexperts.com. Not too long ago I received an interesting question from someone claiming they can predict deaths with great reliability. Due to copyright restrictions, I can’t reblog the question and my answer here. But I … Continue reading →

Last night I managed to get some old 8bf filters working. It took a little doing but IrfanView helped. I wanted to further explore the “mad machines” theme. So here’s the latest. The mad machines II ! Related articles IrfanViewPortable … Continue reading →

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Aviation experts disagree with airline and Halifax airport officials characterizing Air Canada Flight AC624's troubled descent qualifies as a "hard landing" — a relatively common event — rather than a crash.